A Yale-educated lawyer, the 44-year-old Hunter Biden was commissioned as a Navy ensign May 7, 2013 and assigned as a public affairs officer at a reserve unit in Norfolk, Va., the Journal reported. But just a month later when he checked into his new unit and was given a drug test, he popped for cocaine.

He was discharged in February of this year.

In a statement, Biden said it was “the honour of my life to serve in the U.S. Navy, and I deeply regret and am embarrassed that my actions led to my administrative discharge. I respect the Navy’s decision. With the love and support of my family, I’m moving forward.”

It was not clear what type of discharge he received. Military personnel discharged for drug usage usually do not receive honorable discharges, although Biden’s statement says he received an “administrative discharge.”

The U.S. official said the Navy never had contact with the vice president’s office over the issue, and that standard procedure for failed drug tests is administrative discharge. The vice president’s office didn’t comment on the report.

In a speech given at the commissioning of the USS Delaware in 2012, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus noted that Hunter would be joining the service. His brother Beau also served in the military, as an attorney in the Army with a deployment to Iraq.

Biden’s job in the Navy Reserve was only a part-time commitment. He has kept busy as head of the legal unit for Ukraine’s largest private gas firm, according to The Washington Post. He also serves as managing partner at Rosemont Seneca Partners and is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.